


The story of how Stevie almost skipped US History

by meanestvenus



Series: Midwestern Eden [5]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy Hargrove Redemption, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Female Billy Hargrove, Female Jonathan Byers, Female Steve Harrington, Genderswap, Love/Hate, Male Nancy Wheeler, Rule 63, Slow Burn, Steve Harrington Angst, Teenage Drama, eventually, redemption is a slow process guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 04:05:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17717696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meanestvenus/pseuds/meanestvenus
Summary: "And you went to Billy for help with English because?” Nate asked in a way that could have been interpreted as rude, or as Nate being offended that she didn’t ask him for help, or honestly just pointing out Stevie’s whatever--issue--with Billy.Stevie jumped in, surprised at her protectiveness. “You’re not in her English class, but she writes like a dream. Her uncle has promised to pay for half of her school if she goes to UCLA.”Nate looked baffled, Jane only a little less, but Stevie was pretty sure all three of them were making the same face./Nobody knows what Stevie's doing, least of all her. But she's slowly realizing she might, sort of, possibly have a thing for someone who's kind of a bitch. (Billy. That person is Billy.)





	The story of how Stevie almost skipped US History

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ruby_ribs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruby_ribs/gifts).



> In case you haven't read the earlier instalments, it's mostly (cis)gender-bent so some name changes were in order: Nancy is Nate, Jonathan is Jane, Tommy is Theresa and Carol is Carlo...
> 
> Also this is the next day after my last instalment, so after that Billy got in a bit of trouble with her dad...but who would believe that it was her dad? After all, Billy is a well known provocative troublemaker...

She was at her locker, sorting through papers--she really needed a folder or something, she was too old to be this disorganized--when Billy Hargrove strode in through the swinging doors, shades on and strutting down the hall. Stevie looked up, but then she remembered last night and looked away. If Billy was going to be a maniac with impulse control issues for the rest of her life, it was none of her business. As long as she didn’t fuck with her or the kids-- which was a distinct possibility because, you know. Maniac. 

“Billy!” Theresa called from the end of the hallway, practically jogging to meet Billy, who was gliding as easily as if she was on a slow treadmill. “Where were you last night? Carlo’s cousin was over, he brought some sweet stuff.”

Billy rolled her bag off her shoulder and threw it on the ground in front of her locker. “You forget I’m from California. There’s no good pot in this entire state.” Theresa looked a little offended, and opened her mouth to say something, but then Billy popped her shades on top of her head. 

“Christ,” Theresa practically gasped and Stevie thought, that’s about right. She wasn’t even pretending not to watch Billy out of the corner of her eye anymore, just gaping at the swollen, purple mess of Billy’s left eye. Billy haphazardly threw some notebooks from her bag into her locker, and then grabbed what might have been the exact same ones. 

“What the fuck happened to you?” Theresa asked, and it had enough judgement in it for Billy to snap and get in Theresa’s face. 

“I like it rough,” she leered. “You should try it with Carlo sometime, I’m sure shit has gotten real old after five years.” 

Theresa looked offended. “Fine, whatever. I was just asking, you don’t need to be a bitch about it.” She stalked off to class like she was the one with the black eye, which was her style. 

Stevie’s fingers twitched against her locker door. Billy hadn’t remotely looked her way, was shoving things around in her locker and clenching her jaw. She looked angry and tired, and like she hadn’t used as much ice as she needed to. Stevie slowly closed her locker and walked resolutely towards Billy, slow enough so that Billy noticed when she was still a metre away. She heard the front doors swing open again, and then Nate’s eager voice, Jane’s soft one, them saying hi but she could tell Billy was about thirty seconds from bouncing. Her gaze was heavy on Billy the whole time. When she was a few feet away, Billy finally shut her locker and turned to acknowledge her. 

“You want a go too?” She said, crossing her arms. 

“Don’t want to mess up my hair,” she deadpanned, and then more seriously, “You didn’t look like that last time I saw you.” 

Billy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, believe it or not you’re not the only person I’ve ever pissed off. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’ve been seeing other people.”

Stevie tilted her head, skeptical, and stepped closer. “I don’t think there’s anyone in this entire building who’s dumb enough to try and take you.”

Billy raised her eyebrows. “Guess that makes you exceptionally stupid. Get out of my way, Harrington. I have Chemistry.”

Stevie stood in front of her for a moment longer, flicking her gaze from the purple pouch around Billy’s eye to Billy’s challenging gaze, and then stepped to the side. Billy tapped her sunglasses down with one finger and walked away. 

“What was that about?” Nate asked, voice quiet with concern. He and Jane had materialized next to her. Stevie shrugged. 

“I was supposed to help her with her math homework, but she said she has better things to do.” And it wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t really the truth. She felt somewhat guilty about kind-of lying. Even if they’d broken her heart, Nate and Jane seemed to care about her. If they’d told her a few weeks after the fact, didn’t that give her a few weeks leeway to work on whatever the fuck her life had become?

Jane nodded, generously not pointing out Stevie's dismal math skills. “That was good of you, but you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.”

Stevie involuntarily clenched her teeth but then relaxed. Jane was right. How she got so wise, Stevie didn't know, and probably wouldn't figure out. That was why even if it still stung a little, Jane and Nate complemented each other so well. Even if Jane was a little taller than Nate...

Stevie shrugged. “She seemed open to it. I don’t think she’s as stupid as she says--and I was hoping if I helped her she would help me.”

Nate frowned. “Is English going okay?” Stevie literally bit her tongue for a second, the pain drawing her back to the moment. As much as she appreciated their concern, it brought up a little bitterness. But then without them, she would have no friends at school at all. She would rather eat a slug than go back to Theresa and Carlo and the other hangers-on. 

“I could use some help, yeah. But Billy said she would, so I’m chasing that.”

Jane and Nate exchanged a look.

“And you went to Billy because?” Nate asked in a way that could have been interpreted as rude, or as Nate being offended that she didn’t ask him for help, or honestly just pointing out Stevie’s whatever--issue--with Billy. 

Jane smacked Nate on his arm as if trying to get him to think more openly.

Stevie jumped in, surprised at her protectiveness. “You’re not in her English class, but she writes like a dream. Her uncle has promised to pay for half of her school if she goes to UCLA.”

Nate looked baffled, Jane only a little less, but Stevie was pretty sure all three of them were making the same face. 

“I, um, heard her talking to Mrs. Wilkins about college. My appointment was right after, and they left the door open.” Another lie, but what was a few lies between friends? It wasn’t like they would believe her if she had said it had voluntarily come out of Billy’s glossy pink lips when they were lying down on Stevie’s bedroom floor. When Billy had smelled like denim and liquor and Stevie had been close enough to smell the citrus in whatever hairspray she used. 

“Oh, how did that go?” Nate asked, eyes bright and curious. He wanted Stevie to achieve as much as him, even if they weren’t really alike in that way. Stevie loved him for it.

Stevie panicked, running a hand through her thick hair. She needed to moisturize it, maybe tonight she would slather her hair with her mom’s expensive conditioner that was half full because she never used it and sleep in it so when she woke up she could wash it out and Nate and Jane were still looking at her. 

“Good?” She practically squeaked. She should probably ask them for help, ask anyone for help since she felt so adrift, actually make an appointment with Mrs. Wilkins. Nate smiled softly at her before sharing a look with Jane and leaning in to kiss her. 

“I have to return something to the library, but I’ll see you guys at lunch?” He said. 

Stevie nodded, overcome with a sense that she had no idea what was happening and she hated it, and Jane said bye like a normal person. 

Stevie stood there, shifting her textbooks in her hand as if that would give her a grip on life. 

I don’t think anyone actually gets it, she thought. I’m gonna end up disappointing someone. And then she thought of Billy so close to her, the thrill that ran from her neck to her core when Billy looked at her with that cocky smirk and how it made her want to throw Billy into a wall and devour her mouth and do...something. She felt it like an itch, a throb that needed to be soothed. 

Of course you pick someone who’s hurt you and your friends, someone who would appall them, she thought. Maybe it was because she was still spinning from the breakdown of her first love. Maybe it was because she was drinking too much. She was reminded of many times where her parents finally arrived home, late, with wine on their breath and too-bright eyes. 

Maybe I’m drawn to people who don’t care about me, she thought. Maybe Nate is an exception. Childhood or something Freud was on about. But she remembered the half--okay, quarter-- second of shock when Billy had seen her in her Metallica shirt, shock and something she was so sure was some kind of want, as if Billy had...but it wasn't like it mattered. It wasn't like Billy was going to be her girlfriend and they would waltz off into the sunset with the approval of her friends and parents, she wasn't even sure Billy liked her as a person, she wasn't even sure how it worked with two girls, and then she realized she was so late to US History that she almost skipped. 

**Author's Note:**

> Pls give me feedback I am hungry for criticism/ideas


End file.
